Mobile station apparatus, communication method, and base station apparatus

ABSTRACT

A mobile terminal device for performing multi-carrier communication with a base station device can improve communication quality while reducing the data amount without lowering accuracy of feedback information. In the mobile station device ( 100 ), a reception level measuring unit ( 135 ) measuring SINR as a reception level for each chunk formed by a plurality of sub-carriers according to a known signal; a control information transmission control unit ( 160 ) transmits feedback information (CQI information) based on the communication quality of each chunk to a base station device ( 200 ); a relative value calculation unit ( 150 ) calculates a relative value of MCS corresponding to the reception level between adjacent chunks from the reception level of each chunk; and a CQI information generation unit ( 155 ) generates feedback information (CQI information) from an absolute value of MCS corresponding to the reception level of the reference chunk and a relative value of MCS corresponding to the reception level between the adjacent chunks.

This is a continuation application of application Ser. No. 11/997,710filed Feb. 1, 2008, which is a national stage of PCT/3P2005/014336 filedAug. 4, 2005, the entire contents of each which are incorporated byreference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a mobile station apparatus. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to a mobile stationapparatus that performs multicarrier communication with a base stationapparatus.

BACKGROUND ART

In OFDM transmission, there are cases where communication quality variesbetween subcarriers due to the influence of frequency selective fading(see FIG. 1). Further, in downlink OFDM transmission, channel statesdiffer between terminals (UE), and so, by making the UEs reportcommunication quality, a base station (Node-B) can select onlysubcarriers having good communication quality and allocate transmissiondata per UE. This allocation method is referred to as “frequencyscheduling.”

Generally, in order to perform frequency scheduling, it is necessary forthe terminals to measure received quality based on a known pilot signaltransmitted from the base station and report communication qualityinformation (CQI) based on the measurement result to the base station.However, when the number of subcarriers forming an OFDM signal is largeand CQI is reported for all subcarriers, the amount of CQI reportingbecomes enormous, and a problem arises that uplink radio resources arewasted.

Therefore, conventionally, various schemes for reducing the amount ofCQI reporting have been devised. For example, Non-Patent Document 1discloses using a relative value of received quality in the time andfrequency domain as shown in FIG. 1 and reducing the amount of CQIreporting. To be more specific, as shown in FIG. 2, for chunk #1, anabsolute CQI value is reported. For other chunks, relative values withrespect to the CQI for chunk #1 (CQI relative values) are reported. Bythis means, it is possible to reduce the amount of data transmission forreporting, compared to the case of reporting absolute CQI values for allchunks. Here, “chunk” generally refers to a bundle of subcarriersconsecutive in the frequency domain. Particularly, in scheduling at thebase station apparatus, “chunk” refers to a two-dimensional (time domainand frequency domain) bundle including a predetermined number ofsubcarriers and a predetermined number of TTIs, and refers to a minimumunit allocated to one terminal apparatus.

Non-Patent Document 1: NTT DOCOMO 3GPP R1-050590 DISCLOSURE OF INVENTIONProblems to be Solved by the Invention

In conventional OFDM transmission, there is the following problem. Thatis, primarily, CQI relative values are always calculated using CQI ofone chunk at an edge in the frequency domain as a reference, andtherefore, under a circumstance where the number of bits prepared forreporting CQI relative values is limited, frequency selective fadingpatterns of substantial fluctuations cannot be accurately represented.For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when CQI relative values are reportedusing chunk 1 as a reference and the number of bits prepared for showingCQI relative values is two, the CQI relative values for chunk 5 andchunk 6 having CQI greatly different from the CQI for chunk 1, cannot beshown with the prepared bits. That is, when the selection of a chunk isnot appropriate for the reason that the chunk selected as a reference isgreatly different from the CQI for other chunks, the accuracy of the CQIfor other chunks deteriorates. Therefore, a problem arises thatcommunication quality deteriorates due to deterioration of the accuracyof CQI reported values.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a mobilestation apparatus that performs multicarrier communication with a basestation apparatus, and that makes it possible to reduce the data amountfor feedback and improve communication quality without deteriorating theaccuracy of feedback information.

Means for Solving the Problem

The mobile station apparatus of the present invention performsmulticarrier communication with a base station apparatus and adopts aconfiguration including: a communication quality measuring section thatmeasures communication quality of each chunk comprised of a plurality ofsubcarriers, based on a known signal; a transmitting section thattransmits feedback information based on the communication quality ofeach chunk to the base station apparatus; a relative value calculatingsection that calculates a relative value of communication quality foradjacent chunks from the communication quality of each chunk; and afeedback information generating section that generates the feedbackinformation from the absolute value of the reference chunk and theabsolute value of the communication quality for the adjacent chunks.

Advantageous Effect of the Invention

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a mobilestation apparatus that performs multicarrier communication with a basestation apparatus, and that makes it possible to reduce the data amountfor feedback and improve communication quality without deteriorating theaccuracy of feedback information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a state where communication quality of subcarriersfluctuates due to the influence of frequency selective fading;

FIG. 2 illustrates a method for generating feedback information of aconventional mobile station apparatus;

FIG. 3 illustrates a method for generating feedback information of theconventional mobile station apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a mobile stationapparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a method for generating feedback information of themobile station apparatus in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 illustrates a method for generating feedback information of themobile station apparatus in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 illustrates a method for generating feedback information of themobile station apparatus in FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a base stationapparatus according to Embodiment 1;

FIG. 9 illustrates another method for generating feedback information ofthe mobile station apparatus in FIG. 4;

FIG. 10 illustrates still another method for generating feedbackinformation of the mobile station apparatus in FIG. 4;

FIG. 11 illustrates a method for generating feedback information of themobile station apparatus in FIG. 4;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a mobile stationapparatus according to Embodiment 2;

FIG. 13 illustrates change of a step size of the mobile stationapparatus in FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 shows an example of a structure of CQI information according toEmbodiment 2;

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a base stationapparatus according to Embodiment 2;

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a mobile stationapparatus according to Embodiment 3;

FIG. 17 illustrates change of a step size of the mobile stationapparatus in FIG. 16; and

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a base stationapparatus according to Embodiment 3.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail belowwith reference to the accompanying drawings. In the embodiments, thesame components will be assigned the same reference numerals, anddescription thereof will be omitted.

Embodiment 1

As shown in FIG. 4, mobile station 100 of Embodiment 1 has RF receivingsection 105, GI removing section 110, FFT section 115, demodulatingsection 120, error correction decoding section 125, demultiplexingsection 130, received level measuring section 135, reference chunkdetermining section 140, MCS determining section 145, relative valuecalculating section 150, CQI information generating section 155, controlinformation transmission controlling section 160, error correctioncoding section 165, modulating section 170, IFFT section 175, GIinserting section 180 and RF transmitting section 185.

RF receiving section 105 receives a signal transmitted from base stationapparatus 200 (described later) and performs RF processing such asdown-conversion.

GI removing section 110 removes guard intervals from the received signalsubjected to RF processing and outputs the result to FFT section 115.

FFT section 115 receives as input from GI removing section 110 thereceived signal from which the guard intervals are removed and performsFFT processing on this input signal. FFT section 115 outputs thereceived signal subjected to FFT processing to received level measuringsection 135 and demodulating section 120.

Received level measuring section 135 measures a received level of eachchunk using a pilot signal included in the received signal subjected toFFT processing. Here, “chunk” refers to a group of subcarriersconsecutive in the frequency domain, a group of non-consecutivesubcarriers, or a range that is formed with a plurality of subcarriersand TTI and that is specified by time and frequency. Chunk is used as aminimum unit of resources allocated to one mobile station (UE).

Reference chunk determining section 140 determines a chunk (referencechunk) for which the absolute value of the modulation and coding scheme(MCS) is reported to base station apparatus 200 (described later) as CQIinformation, according to predetermined principles based on the receivedsignal level (for example, SINR) measured at received level measuringsection 135. Predetermined principles include, for example, principlesof using a predetermined chunk as the reference chunk and principles ofusing the chunk having the highest received signal level as thereference chunk. In Embodiment 1,it is assumed that the chunk having thehighest received signal level is determined as the reference chunk. Byusing the chunk having the highest received signal level as thereference chunk, the chunk having the best channel quality is used asthe reference chunk, so that it is possible to increase the accuracy ofCQI information generated based on this reference chunk. Particularly, arelative value is used as a difference (relative value), and therefore,if the difference step width does not match the fluctuation width of thechannel, the accuracy of CQI may decrease in accordance with thedistance from the reference chunk. Generally, when frequency schedulingis performed, resources are allocated to chunks having good CQI, andinformation of the chunks having good CQI is regarded as important.Therefore, regarding CQI information, it is particularly preferable toincrease the accuracy of information of the chunks having good channelquality. Further, by using the chunk having a high received signal levelas a reference, the most reliable value is used as the reference, andtherefore reliability of relative values of other chunks calculatedbased on the received signal level of this reference chunk increases.

MCS determining section 145 determines the MCS corresponding to thereceived level measured at received level measuring section 135 perchunk.

Relative value calculating section 150 calculates relative values ofMCS's for adjacent chunks based on the reference chunk determined atreference chunk determining section 140 and the MCS of each chunkdetermined at MCS determining section 145.

To be more specific, first, relative value calculating section 150temporarily stores the absolute value of the MCS for the referencechunk, and calculates and temporarily stores the relative values ofMCS's for adjacent chunks for other chunks.

As a method of calculating relative values of MCS's for adjacent chunks,for example, as shown in FIG. 5, relative values of MCS's are calculatedby changing chunks used as the reference for calculating relativevalues, sequentially toward the reference chunk in the frequency domain.To describe the method in more detail with reference to FIG. 6, chunk 5having the highest received signal level is determined as the referencechunk in this figure. Therefore, relative values for chunks 1 to 4having lower frequencies than chunk 5 which is the reference chunk, aresequentially calculated in such a manner that the relative value of theMCS for chunk 4 (a negative value in this figure) is calculated usingchunk 5 as a reference, and the relative value of the MCS for chunk 3 iscalculated using chunk 4 as a reference. Further, relative values forchunks 6 to 8 having higher frequencies than chunk 5 which is thereference chunk, are sequentially calculated in such a manner that therelative value of the MCS for chunk 6 is calculated using chunk 5 as areference, and the relative value of the MCS for chunk 7 is calculatedusing chunk 6 as a reference.

CQI information generating section 155 generates CQI using the relativevalues for the adjacent chunks calculated at relative value calculatingsection 150, the absolute value of the MCS for the reference chunk, andreference chunk information from reference chunk determining section140.

CQI information is generated as shown in FIG. 7. That is, CQIinformation generating section 155 arranges the number of the referencechunk and the absolute value of the MCS for the reference chunk at thehead of a data stream, and, after that, sequentially arranges thecalculated relative values of MCS's for adjacent chunks in the frequencydomain in one direction from a chunk at an edge in the frequency domain,that is, from the chunk having the highest frequency or the chunk havingthe lowest frequency, and generates CQI information.

Control information transmission controlling section 160 controlstransmission of the CQI information generated at CQI informationgenerating section 155 to base station apparatus 200 (described later).

The CQI information outputted from control information transmissioncontrolling section 160 is subjected to error correction coding at errorcorrection coding section 165, modulated at modulating section 170, andsubjected to IFFT at IFFT section 175, and transmitted to base stationapparatus 200 (described later) via RF transmitting section 185 afterguard intervals are inserted at GI inserting section 180.

Demodulating section 120 receives as input the received signal subjectedto FFT processing, demodulates the signal according to radio resourceallocation information and outputs the demodulated received signal toerror correction decoding section 125.

Error correction decoding section 125 receives as input the demodulatedreceived signal, performs error correction decoding according to theradio resource allocation information and outputs the error-correctiondecoded signal to demultiplexing section 130.

Demultiplexing section 130 receives as input the error-correctiondecoded signal, demultiplexes the signal into various information suchas received data, radio resource allocation information and CQIinformation, and outputs the radio resource allocation information todemodulating section 120 and error correction decoding section 125.

As shown in FIG. 8, base station apparatus 200 of Embodiment 1 has RFreceiving section 205, GI removing section 210, FFT section 215,demodulating section 220, error correction decoding section 225,demultiplexing section 230, CQI information receiving section 235, CQIinformation analyzing section 240, scheduling section 245, controlinformation transmission controlling section 250, multiplexing section255, transmission data generating section 260, pilot generating section265, error correction coding section 270, modulating section 275, IFFTsection 280, GI inserting section 285 and RF transmitting section 290.

RF receiving section 205 receives a signal transmitted from mobilestation apparatus 100 and performs RF processing such asdown-conversion.

GI removing section 210 removes guard intervals from the received signalsubjected to RF processing and outputs the result to FFT section 215.

FFT section 215 receives from GI removing section 210 as input thereceived signal from which the guard intervals are removed, and performsFFT processing on this input signal. FFT section 215 outputs thereceived signal subjected to FFT processing to demodulating section 220.

Demodulating section 220 receives as input the received signal subjectedto FFT processing, demodulates the signal according to the radioresource allocation information, and outputs the demodulated receivedsignal to error correction decoding section 225.

Error correction decoding section 225 receives as input the demodulatedreceived signal, performs error correction decoding according to theradio resource allocation information, and outputs the error-correctiondecoded signal to demultiplexing section 230.

Demultiplexing section 230 receives as input the error-correctiondecoded signal, demultiplexes the signal into various information suchas received data, radio resource allocation information and CQIinformation, outputs the radio resource allocation information todemodulating section 220 and error correction decoding section 225, andoutputs the CQI information to CQI information receiving section 235.The outputted CQI information is outputted to CQI information analyzingsection 240 via CQI information receiving section 235.

CQI information has the structure described above, that is, thestructure where the number of the reference chunk and the absolute valueof the MCS for the reference chunk are arranged at the head of a datastream, and after that, the calculated relative values of MCS's foradjacent chunks are sequentially arranged in the frequency domain in onedirection toward the reference chunk from a chunk at an edge in thefrequency domain, that is, from the chunk having the highest frequencyor the chunk having the lowest frequency. Therefore, CQI informationanalyzing section 240 calculates absolute values of MCS's for all chunksbased on this CQI information. The absolute values of MCS's for thechunks are outputted to scheduling section 245.

Scheduling section 245 performs scheduling based on the absolute valuesof MCS's for the chunks, and outputs the scheduling information tocontrol information transmission controlling section 250. The schedulinginformation is outputted to multiplexing section 255 according tocontrol of control information transmission controlling section 250.

Multiplexing section 255 receives as input and multiplexes transmissiondata from transmission data generating section 260, the pilot signalfrom pilot generating section 265 and the scheduling information fromcontrol information transmission controlling section 250. Themultiplexed signal is subjected to error correction coding at errorcorrection coding section 270, modulated at modulating section 275,subjected to IFFT at IFFT section 280, and transmitted to mobile stationapparatus 100 via RF transmitting section 290 after guard intervals areinserted at GI inserting section 285.

In addition, a method has been described with the above descriptionwhere relative values of MCS's for adjacent chunks are calculated bysequentially changing the reference from the reference chunk, but thisis by no means limiting, and it is also possible to calculate relativevalues of MCS's in one direction from a chunk having a lower frequencytoward a chunk having a higher frequency as shown in FIG. 9, orcalculate relative values of MCS's in one direction from a chunk havinga higher frequency toward a chunk having a lower frequency.

Further, a case has been described with the above description where theMCS for each chunk is determined from the received signal level measuredat mobile station apparatus 100 and CQI information is generated fromthe absolute value of the reference chunk and relative values of MCS'sfor adjacent chunks. However, the present invention is not limited tothis, and it is also possible to use the measured received signal levelas CQI information without determining MCS's at mobile station apparatus100. That is, mobile station apparatus 100 may generate CQI informationusing the absolute value of the received signal level (for example,SINR) of the reference chunk and relative values of the received signallevels for adjacent chunks, and base station apparatus 200, which is aCQI information receiving side, may determine MCS's using the receivedCQI information and perform scheduling.

In this way, according to Embodiment 1, mobile station apparatus 100that performs multicarrier communication with base station apparatus200, has: received signal level measuring section 135 that measurescommunication quality (for example, SINR as the received level) of eachchunk comprised of a plurality of subcarriers based on a known signal (apilot signal from base station apparatus 200); control informationtransmission controlling section 160 that transmits feedback information(CQI information) based on the communication quality of each chunk tobase station apparatus 200; relative value calculating section 150 thatcalculates relative values of communication quality for adjacent chunks(for example, relative values of SINR or relative values of MCScorresponding to SINR) from the communication quality of each chunk (forexample, SINR as the received signal level); and CQI informationgenerating section 155 that generates feedback information (CQIinformation) from the absolute value of the reference chunk (forexample, the absolute value of SINR, the absolute value of an MCScorresponding to SINR) and the relative values of communication qualityfor adjacent chunks (for example, relative values of SINR or relativevalues of MCS's corresponding to SINR).

By this means, feedback information is generated from the relativevalues of communication quality for adjacent chunks, so that, forexample, even in a communication state where communication qualitysubstantially fluctuates as shown in FIG. 11, it is possible to generatefeedback information reflecting the fluctuation state of communicationquality without increasing the amount of information for showingcommunication quality, reduce the data amount for feedback and improvethe accuracy of feedback information. As a result, at base stationapparatus 200 that receives feedback information, scheduling and thelike is performed based on accurate feedback information, so that it ispossible to improve communication quality of mobile station apparatus100 and base station apparatus 200. Further, by using the relativevalues of communication quality for adjacent chunks, it is possible tocover a range of substantial change of CQI with the same number of bitsand represent communication quality in a range where communicationquality is greatly different from communication quality of the referencechunk.

Further, mobile station apparatus 100 has reference chunk determiningsection 140 that selects the chunk having the best communication quality(for example, SINR as the received signal level) as the reference chunk.

By this means, it is possible to select a chunk having the most reliablecommunication quality. By transmitting feedback information includingthe absolute value of communication quality of this reference chunk tobase station apparatus 200, the reliability of absolute values ofcommunication quality for each chunk which are calculated by convertingfeedback information at base station apparatus 200 increases, so that itis possible to improve communication quality of mobile station apparatus100 and base station apparatus 200.

Further, mobile station apparatus 100 has MCS determining section 145that determines an MCS for each chunk based on communication quality ofeach chunk measured at received level measuring section 135. Relativevalue calculating section 150 calculates relative values of MCS's foradjacent chunks, and CQI information generating section 155 generatesCQI information from the absolute value of the MCS for the referencechunk and the relative values of MCS's for adjacent chunks.

Embodiment 2

In embodiment 1, relative values of MCS's are always reported per MCS.By contrast with this, in Embodiment 2, the report granularity forreporting relative values of MCS's (step size) is changed according tochannel state between the base station apparatus (Node-B) and the mobilestation apparatus (UE).

As shown in FIG. 12, mobile station apparatus 300 of Embodiment 2 hasstep size determining section 310, relative value calculating section320 and CQI information generating section 330.

Step size determining section 310 estimates a channel state betweenmobile station apparatus 300 and base station apparatus 400 (describedlater) based on the received signal level measured at received levelmeasuring section 135 and determines the report granularity forreporting relative values of MCS's (step size) according to this channelstate. This step size information is outputted to relative valuecalculating section 320.

Relative value calculating section 320 calculates CQI information basedon the step size information determined at step size determining section310, the reference chunk determined at reference chunk determiningsection 140 and the MCS of each chunk determined at MCS determiningsection 145.

To be more specific, first, relative value calculating section 320temporarily stores the absolute value of the MCS for the reference chunkand calculates and temporarily stores the relative values of MCS's foradjacent chunks for other chunks. Relative value calculating section 320converts the calculated relative values of MCS's for adjacent chunksbased on the step size information. For example, in FIG. 13, when thestep size is 1 MCS, MCS 8 is the MCS for the reference chunk, and MCS'sfor adjacent chunks are MCS 7 and MCS 6, relative values become 1 and2,respectively. When the step size is 2 MCS's, relative values becomeboth 1, and the values become converted relative values of MCS's foradjacent chunks. In this way, by increasing the step size, even when thenumber of bits used for showing relative values of MCS's is limited, itis possible to follow substantial fluctuation of the relative values.

CQI information generating section 330 generates CQI information usingthe relative values of MCS's for adjacent chunks calculated at relativevalue calculating section 320, the absolute value of the MCS for thereference chunk, the reference chunk information from reference chunkdetermining section 140 and the step size information from step sizedetermining section 310. To be more specific, a data structure is suchthat the step size information is included in the CQI information shownin FIG. 7 (refer to FIG. 14).

As shown in FIG. 15, base station apparatus 400 of Embodiment 2 has CQIinformation analyzing section 410. The CQI information adopts thestructure described above, that is, the data structure (FIG. 14) wherethe step size information is included in the CQI information shown inFIG. 7, and CQI information analyzing section 410 calculates absolutevalues of MCS's for all chunks based on this CQI information. To be morespecific, the converted relative values are inversely converted torelative values before conversion based on the step size information,and absolute values of MCS's for all chunks are calculated from therelative values before conversion and the absolute value of the MCS forthe reference chunk. The absolute value of the MCS for each chunk isoutputted to scheduling section 245.

In this way, according to Embodiment 2, mobile station apparatus 300that performs multicarrier communication with base station apparatus400, has: received level measuring section 135 that measurescommunication quality (for example, SINR as the received level) of eachchunk comprised of a plurality of subcarriers based on a known signal(pilot signal from base station apparatus 400); control informationtransmission controlling section 160 that transmits feedback information(CQI information) based on communication quality of each chunk to basestation apparatus 400; relative value calculating section 320 thatcalculates relative values of communication quality for adjacent chunks(for example, relative values of SINR or relative values of MCS'scorresponding to SINR) from the communication quality of each chunk (forexample, SINR as the received level); and CQI information generatingsection 330 that generates feedback information (CQI information) fromthe absolute value of communication quality of the reference chunk (forexample, the absolute value of SINR and the absolute value of MCScorresponding to SINR) and the relative values of communication qualityfor the adjacent chunks (for example, relative values of SINR orrelative values of MCS's corresponding to SINR).

Further, mobile station apparatus 300 has step size determining section310 that determines a report granularity (step size) for reporting therelative values of communication quality (for example, relative valuesof SINR or relative values of MCS's corresponding to SINR) based on themeasured communication quality (for example, SINR as the receivedlevel). Relative value calculating section 320 calculates convertedrelative values obtained by converting the relative values ofcommunication quality according to the report granularity for reporting,and CQI information generating section 330 generates the feedbackinformation from the absolute value of communication quality of thereference chunk (for example, the absolute value of SINR and theabsolute value of MCS corresponding to SINR), the converted relativevalues (for example, converted relative values of SINR or convertedrelative values of MCS corresponding to SINR) and the report granularityfor reporting.

By this means, the report granularity for reporting can be changedadaptively according to communication quality, so that, even in acommunication state where communication quality fluctuatessubstantially, it is possible to generate feedback informationaccurately reflecting fluctuation state of communication quality withoutincreasing the amount of information for showing communication quality,reduce the data amount for feedback and improve the accuracy of feedbackinformation. As a result, at base station apparatus 400 that receivesfeedback information, scheduling or the like can be performed based onaccurate feedback information, so that it is possible to improvecommunication quality of mobile station apparatus 300 and base stationapparatus 400.

Embodiment 3

In Embodiment 1, relative values of MCS's are always reported per MCS.By contrast with this, in Embodiment 3, the report granularity (stepsize) for reporting relative values of MCS's is determined based on theMCS's determined from the received level of each chunk of a pilot signaltransmitted from the base station apparatus (Node-B).

As shown in FIG. 16, mobile station apparatus 500 of Embodiment 3 hasstep size determining section 510, relative value calculating section520 and CQI information generating section 530.

Step size determining section 510 determines the report granularity(step size) for reporting relative values of MCS's based on the MCS ofeach chunk determined at MCS determining section 145.

To be more specific, as shown in. FIG. 17, step size determining section510 specifies the chunk having the maximum MCS and the chunk having theminimum MCS from the MCS of each chunk determined at MCS determiningsection 145. Mobile station apparatus 500 reports absolute values of thechunk having the maximum MCS and the chunk having the minimum MCS tobase station apparatus 600 (described later) as reference chunks. Adifference between the maximum chunk and the minimum chunk (rangebetween the maximum MCS and the minimum MCS) is divided into the numberof ranges that can be represented with the number of bits prepared forshowing correlation values of MCS's for adjacent chunks. The dividedrange provides the step size in this embodiment. That is, step sizedetermining section 510 divides the range between the maximum MCS andthe minimum MCS into the number of ranges that can be represented withthe number of bits prepared for showing the correlation values of MCS'sfor adjacent chunks to calculate the step size. In this figure, thenumber of bits prepared for showing the correlation values of MCS's foradjacent chunks is two, the number of ranges that can be shown is four,the maximum minimum MCS range is 8, and therefore the step size becomes2 MCS's. Here, although a case is described where the step sizes arcmade uniform, this is by no means limiting, and the range may beununiformly divided. Particularly, by increasing the number of dividedranges for the range where the received level is high, that is, the MCSlevel is high, and by decreasing the number of divided ranges for therange where the received level is low, the range where the reliabilityof the measured value of the received level is higher can be representedaccurately, so that it is possible to improve the accuracy of CQIinformation.

Relative value calculating section 520 calculates CQI information basedon step size information determined at step size determining section510, the reference chunk determined at reference chunk determiningsection 140 and the MCS of each chunk determined at MCS determiningsection 145.

To be more specific, first, relative value calculating section 520temporarily stores the absolute value of the MCS with respect to thereference chunk, and calculates and temporarily stores relative valuesof MCS's for adjacent chunks with respect to other chunks. Relativevalue calculating section 520 converts the calculated relative values ofMCS's for adjacent chunks based on the step size information.

CQI information generating section 530 generates CQI information usingthe relative values of MCS's for adjacent chunks calculated at relativevalue calculating section 520, the absolute value of the MCS for thereference chunk, the reference chunk information from reference chunkdetermining section 140 and the step size information from step sizedetermining section 510. To be more specific, a data structure (FIG. 14)is such that step size information is included in the CQI informationshown in FIG. 7.

As shown in FIG. 18, base station apparatus 600 of Embodiment 3 has CQIinformation analyzing section 610. The CQI information adopts thestructure as described above, that is, the data structure where the stepsize information is included in the CQI information shown in FIG. 7, andso CQI information analyzing section 610 calculates absolute values ofMCS's for all chunks based on this CQI information. To be more specific,the converted relative values are inversely converted to relative valuesbefore conversion based on step size information, and the absolutevalues of MCS's for all chunks are calculated from the relative valuesbefore conversion and the absolute value of the MCS for the referencechunk. The absolute value of the MCS for each chunk is outputted toscheduling section 245.

In this way, according to Embodiment 3, mobile station apparatus 500that performs multicarrier communication with base station apparatus 600has: received level measuring section 135 that measures communicationquality (for example, SINR as the received level) of each chunkcomprised of a plurality of subcarriers based on a known signal (a pilotsignal from base station apparatus 600); control informationtransmission controlling section 160 that transmits feedback information(CQI information) based on the communication quality of each channel tobase station apparatus 600; relative value calculating section 520 thatcalculates relative values of communication quality for adjacent chunks(for example, relative values of SINK or relative values of MCS'scorresponding to SINR) from communication quality of each chunk; CQIinformation generating section 530 that generates feedback information(CQI information) from the absolute value of communication quality forthe reference chunk (for example, the absolute value of SINR or theabsolute value of MCS corresponding to SINR) and the relative values ofcommunication quality for adjacent chunks (for example, relative valuesof SINR or relative values of MCS's corresponding to SINR).

Further, mobile station apparatus 500 has MCS determining section 145that determines the MCS of each chunk based on measured communicationquality of each chunk (for example, SINR as the received level); andstep size determining section 510 that determines the report granularity(step size) for reporting relative values of communication quality (forexample, relative values of MCS corresponding to SINR) based on thewidth between the maximum MCS and the minimum MCS out of MCS'sdetermined at MCS determining section 145 and the number of bits forshowing relative values of communication quality for adjacent chunks infeedback information. Relative value calculating section 520 calculatesconverted relative values obtained by converting the relative values ofcommunication quality according to the report granularity for reporting,and CQI information generating section 530 generates the feedbackinformation from the absolute value of communication quality for thereference chunk (for example, the absolute value of MCS corresponding toSINR), the converted relative values (for example, converted relativevalues of MCS's corresponding to SINR) and the report granularity forreporting.

By this means, a report granularity for reporting can be adaptivelychanged according to the communication quality, so that, even in acommunication state where communication quality fluctuatessubstantially, it is possible to generate feedback informationaccurately reflecting fluctuation state of communication quality withoutincreasing the amount of information for showing communication quality,reduce the data amount for feedback and improve the accuracy of feedbackinformation. As a result, at base station apparatus 600 that receivesfeedback information, scheduling or the like can be performed based onaccurate feedback information, so that it is possible to improvecommunication quality of mobile station apparatus 500 and base stationapparatus 600.

Other embodiments

In Embodiments 1 to 3, a case has been described where the chunk havingthe best communication quality is selected as the reference chunk, butthis is by no means limiting, and, for example, it is also possible todetermine a chunk having an MCS close to an average value of MCS's forall chunks as a reference chunk. Further, it is possible to select areference chunk randomly or select a reference chunk according to fixedpatterns. Furthermore, the base station may specify different patternsfor reporting the reference chunk to the mobile stations.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The mobile station apparatus of the present invention performsmulticarrier communication such as OFDM communication with the basestation apparatus and is suitable for use as a mobile station apparatusthat reduces the data amount for feedback and improves communicationquality without decreasing the accuracy of feedback information.

1. A mobile station apparatus comprising: a calculating unit configuredto calculate a CQI value, which represents channel quality, for each ofgroups, into which subcarriers that are consecutive in a frequencydomain are divided in a predefined unit of a time domain; a generatingunit configured to generate feedback information based on the calculatedCQI value for each of the groups; and a transmitting unit configured totransmit the feedback information, wherein: said calculating unitcalculates a differential value for each of the groups, the differentialvalue being a difference of the calculated CQI value with respect to asingle CQI value, which represents channel quality for all of thegroups, and said generating unit generates the feedback informationforming a data sequence, in which the single CQI value is positioned atthe beginning and the differential values for the groups are positionedafter the single CQI value in order of increasing frequency ordecreasing frequency.
 2. The mobile station apparatus according to claim1, wherein said transmitting unit transmits the single CQI value whichrepresents the channel quality for all of the groups as an absolutevalue.
 3. The mobile station apparatus according to claim 1, furthercomprising a receiving unit configured to receive transmission data,which is transmitted using said groups.
 4. The mobile station apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the CQI value indicates a modulation andcoding scheme (MCS).
 5. A communication method comprising: calculating aCQI value, which represents channel quality, for each of groups, intowhich subcarriers that are consecutive in a frequency domain are dividedin a predefined unit of a time domain; and generating feedbackinformation based on the calculated CQI value, wherein: a differentialvalue for each of the groups is calculated, the differential value beinga difference of the CQI value with respect to a single CQI value, whichrepresents channel quality for all of the groups, and the feedbackinformation forms a data sequence, in which the single CQI value ispositioned at the beginning and the differential values for the groupsare positioned after the single CQI value in order of increasingfrequency or decreasing frequency.
 6. A base station apparatuscomprising: a transmitting unit configured to transmit, to a mobilestation, data using groups, into which subcarriers that are consecutivein a frequency domain arc divided in a predetermined unit of a timedomain, and a receiving unit configured to receive feedback informationgenerated based on a CQI value, which represents channel quality foreach of the groups and is calculated in the mobile station, and adifferential value for each of the groups, which is calculated in themobile station, the differential value being a difference of thecalculated CQI value with respect to a single CQI value, whichrepresents channel quality for all of the groups, wherein: the feedbackinformation forms a data sequence, in which the single CQI value ispositioned at the beginning and the differential values for the groupsare positioned after the single CQI value in order of increasingfrequency or decreasing frequency.
 7. The base station apparatusaccording to claim 6, wherein the single CQI value which represents thechannel quality for all of the groups is an absolute value.
 8. The basestation apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising a schedulingunit configured to schedule the data in response to the receivedfeedback information.
 9. The base station apparatus according to claim8, wherein said scheduling unit determines a modulation and codingscheme (MCS) for the data in response to the received feedbackinformation.
 10. The base station apparatus according to claim 6,wherein the CQI value indicates a modulation and coding scheme (MCS).11. A communication method comprising: transmitting, to a mobilestation, data using groups, into which subcarriers that are consecutivein a frequency domain are divided in a predetermined unit of a timedomain, and receiving feedback information generated based on a CQIvalue, which represents channel quality for each of the groups and iscalculated in the mobile station, and a differential value for each ofthe groups, which is calculated in the mobile station, the differentialvalue being a difference of the calculated CQI value with respect to asingle CQI value, which represents channel quality for all of thegroups, wherein: the feedback information forms a data sequence, inwhich the single CQI value is positioned at the beginning and thedifferential values for the groups are positioned after the single CQIvalue in order of increasing frequency or decreasing frequency.